By Matt Simonette

Staff writer

“Drinking water will be the precious commodity of the 21st Century,” said Dean Maragos. “We’re sitting on 20 percent of the world’s drinking water right here in the Great Lakes basin.”

Maragos, a lawyer and accountant, is running as a candidate for commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.

While MWRD is generally regarded as one of the region’s better-run agencies—they have a triple-A bond rating—Maragos said he’ll to bring to it new ideas of transparency and sustainability.

While MWRD’s finances for now seem to be in order, according to Maragos, the agency needs to be mindful of its future energy costs and invest in renewable energy at every opportunity.

For example, a long term contract with ComEd fixing the district’s rates is set to expire soon, so the agency is faced with having to purchase electricity in the open market.

“Now more than ever they need to be looking into alternative energy methods” to keep their costs down, said Maragos.

MWRD, he added, also needs to be outspoken about the protection of our regional resources. When BP wanted to increase the amounts of mercury it dumps into Lake Michigan, Maragos said, “I would have sued. That’s our job to be involved.” He said that he would push for legislation to increase MWRD’s jurisdiction so it would have the standing to sue in the future.

He will also develop an intergovernmental plan, modeled on the Chicago Metropolis 2020 plan undertaken by the Commercial Club of Chicago, which would more directly address environmental, flooding and land use issues.

Regional agencies like MWRD need to be creative in generating revenue that would offset higher energy costs while, at the same time, implementing new conservation technologies, according to Maragos.

“For example, we should look to venture capitalists (to start) investing in disinfection technologies,” he said.

He also wants to set up a green permit plan, which would compel developers to implement environmentally friendly components, such as green roofs, into their designs.

“Either we’ve got to start thinking outside the box or we’re going to implode,” he said.

Revenues from the permit plan would also give taxpayers a break.

“When it comes to property taxes, people aren’t just angry, they’re livid,” said Maragos.